Two civilians have been killed during the operation: Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were both US citizens. The operation has disrupted the economy and civil society of Minnesota, with schools transitioning to remote learning and immigration arrests disrupting everyday business activities.[9][10] Thousands in Minneapolis have protested the ICE activity.[11] The governor and attorney general of Minnesota have challenged the operation, stating that its primary purpose is "retribution" instead of immigration enforcement.[12][13]
On December 4, 2025, DHS announced Operation Metro Surge,[14] and on January 6, 2026, DHS announced an expansion of the effort to what it called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out,[15] sending 2,000 agents to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The surge included Homeland Security Investigations officers focused on the 2020s Minnesota fraud scandals, as the White House announced a multiagency effort to investigate these scandals.[16] In addition, Donald Trump announced an effort to deport people of Somali descent in Minnesota involved in fraudulent activity, describing them as "garbage".[17][18] Saint Paul City Council member Molly Coleman described the first day of the action as "unlike any other day we've experienced".[4][19]
A Department of Justice attorney testified that, as of January 26, at least 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and 1,000 Customs and Border Patrol officers were participating in the operation.[20] ICE says it has arrested 3,000 people in Minneapolis since the start of the operation. The operation has seen a surge in lawsuits for wrongful detention in Minnesota. ICE detainee flights from Minneapolis more than doubled from December to January.[21]
Timeline of operation
December 2025
At the beginning of December, ICE announced an enforcement surge in the Twin Cities. At least 12 people were arrested between December 1 and December 5.[22] CNN reported the operations were set to be primarily focused on undocumented Somali immigrants.[23] Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino requested identification from employees of an auto repair business after the owner, a US citizen who had fled Somalia, advised a man that he didn't have to answer their questions.[24] Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey signed an executive order banning federal officials from using city property for staging areas.[25] In late December, ICE agents threatened a pair of observers with arrest, then drove to the home of one of the observers and photographed it.[6]
December 6 – Around a dozen federal agents forced their way into a Burnsville, Minnesota, home and arrested four people, including the parents of a seven-year-old boy. They were taken to detention facilities outside of the state.[26]
December 9 – A 55-year-old Minneapolis resident and US citizen was detained by federal immigration agents while observing an ICE enforcement action on a public street in north Minneapolis. According to local news reporting, civil rights organizations, and court filings, the woman drove to the scene after receiving alerts about ongoing federal activity and stood on a sidewalk near the enforcement site. Within seconds of asking an ICE agent "Are you ICE?", she was reportedly tackled to the ground, handcuffed, and taken into custody by agents.[27] Reporting indicates she was transported to the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, shackled, and held in a cell for approximately four to five hours before being released without charges. During her detention, parts of her clothing and her wedding ring were reportedly removed. The ACLU complaint asserts that the observer was on a public street, did not interfere with federal agents, and that the detention was part of a broader pattern of confrontations between ICE agents and individuals documenting federal actions.[28]
December 10 – A 20-year-old US citizen in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis was wrongfully detained by unidentified ICE agents during his lunch break. The man was tackled, put into a headlock and taken in a vehicle to the Whipple Building, despite offering to show his passport by shouting "I'm a citizen. I'm a citizen." upon contact with the agents. He was released after being allowed to show his passport hours later and walked back to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in the snow. Minneapolis and Minnesota police and politicians denounced his abduction as unlawful and unconstitutional.[29][30]
December 14 – In an interview, Representative Ilhan Omar said that her son had been pulled over by ICE. He was able to show the agents his passport and was not detained.[31]
December 15 – ICE agents in Minneapolis attempted to arrest a woman who they said had attempted to vandalize their vehicle. The use of force in detaining the woman was criticized by Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara, and led to pushback from bystanders, who surrounded the agents and threw snowballs at them until they abandoned the arrest.[32]
December 22 – ICE agents opened fire on a Cuban immigrant who they alleged had hit them with an SUV while fleeing arrest in Saint Paul.[33]
January 2026
January 6
DHS announced it was launching what it called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, sending 2,000 agents to the Twin Cities.[4]
ICE agents photographed the license plates and faces of a St. Paul couple observing their activities, then greeted them by name and drove to their house.[6]
A woman, her child and her neighbor's child, who is African American, were also pulled over by ICE. Observers gathered around the traffic stop, and the agents eventually left without making an arrest or speaking to anyone in the car.[34]
A 10-year-old Columbia Heights student and her mother were taken by ICE and sent to a Texas detention center.[35]
A resident of St Paul's North End neighborhood said that federal agents knocked on her door asking her to identify houses in her neighborhood where Hmong families lived.[36]
A Minneapolis pastor was detained by ICE during a protest near his church.[37]
Health care workers and organizers said ICE entered a Minneapolis hospital without a warrant and guarded/handcuffed a patient to a bed, raising concerns about interference with care and access to private areas.[38]
Federal agents tackled people and used chemical irritants and detained an educator[39] outside Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. Eyewitnesses said the agents were hitting people who were already on the ground. Minneapolis Public Schools subsequently canceled classes for the remainder of the week.[40]
January 8
In a McDonald's in Minneapolis's north side, a security guard blocked ICE from forcing their way behind the restaurant's counter without a warrant.[41]
A video showed ICE agents raiding a Target store and arresting two workers in the Minneapolis suburb of Richfield.[42][43] Both were US citizens, who were injured during the incident and released shortly after being detained.[44]
January 9
An ICE agent threatened a pregnant St. Louis Park immigration attorney with a can of pepper spray and scanned her face after she requested that the agent leave the private parking lot of her law firm.[6]
Four members of the Oglala Sioux tribe were detained by ICE during a raid on a homeless encampment in Minneapolis. DHS refused to give tribal President Frank Star Comes Out more information about the detainees unless the tribe entered into an immigration enforcement agreement with ICE. One of the four detainees was released, and the other three were held at Fort Snelling, the site where native prisoners were held during the Dakota War of 1862.[45]
A family reported that a father was detained by ICE while on his way to work, disrupting the family's livelihood and leaving them uncertain about his status and location.[46]
January 10
While tens of thousands of people protested against the activities of ICE in reaction to the killing of Renée Good, as part of a coordinated national protest movement targeting ICE and federal immigration enforcement practices,[47] 29 protesters were arrested.[48]
A restaurant's surveillance video showed a worker described as legally authorized to work being seized by federal agents who appeared to have been waiting outside.[49]
January 11
An ICE agent threatened a man who said he was trying to get home, accusing the driver of following them and saying "Did you not learn from what just happened?" in reference to the killing of Renée Good.[7]
ICE arrested two US citizens engaged in a community patrol who were monitoring their activities. The agents sprayed pepper spray into the vent of the patrollers' car and smashed the car's windows.[50] One patroller described his experience inside the Whipple Federal Building, where he said that food and bathroom breaks were rare, injured detainees were denied medical attention, and that DHS agents offered to "pay him money or extract favorable immigration outcomes on his behalf if he would give them the names and contact information of other illegal immigrants". The pair were released into an active protest outside the building after 8 hours of detention, and subsequently pepper sprayed alongside the other protestors.[51]
In St Paul, ICE smashed the window of a Honduran national and dragged him from his car, also arresting a protestor out of the crowd that had formed to observe the arrest.[52] On 14 January, his family said he was alive, but very injured and not receiving treatment, in a detention center in El Paso, Texas.[53]
Greg Bovino was booed and cursed at after using the bathroom at a Target in Midway.[36]
January 12
A classroom assistant and US citizen was detained by ICE outside the special needs school where she works in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. Witnesses disputed DHS claims that the woman had rammed their vehicle, saying it was "evident they rammed her and then broke her window to pull her out of the vehicle" based on the damage done by the collision to the side of her car.[54] She was released after 12 hours in custody, pending an investigation.[55]
January 13
A crowd of over 100 confronted ICE agents raiding a home in Powderhorn Park, Minneapolis. Three people were detained, two of whom were acting as observers. Witnesses observed ICE agents pushing one observer's head into the cement before detaining him. A different protestor kicked the taillight of an ICE vehicle and was able to escape capture. As ICE left the scene, they fired pepper balls and tear gas at the crowd.[56]
Another woman who said she was on her way to a doctor's appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center had her window smashed and was dragged from her car, bound and carried away by masked agents. She said that she was denied access to a doctor and lost consciousness while in detention, and that she felt "lucky to be alive."[57]
Federal agents fired flashbangs and tear gas at protestors outside the Whipple Federal Building.[58] 8 people were arrested.[59]
Healthcare workers in the Twin Cities said that ICE agents were entering hospitals with detained individuals, worrying nurses and interfering with patient care by entering private areas of the hospital without a warrant.[61]
A Woodbury, Minnesota real estate agent who spotted an ICE patrol and parked next to them at a shopping center had his car blocked in by ICE agents and was detained by them for three hours at the Whipple Federal Building.[62]
A neighbor's home security camera captured an ICE arrest at a bus stop in South Minneapolis. The camera has also captured changes in the behavior of commuters, including people waiting around the corner until the bus comes or running home after getting off the bus, for fear of being picked up by ICE.[63]
Aquila Elementary School was forced to change its pick-up procedures due to a persistent ICE presence at the school and at an apartment building across the street. One PTA member said that "Aquila teaches its kids to be kind, to be tolerant, to be thoughtful, to keep their hands to themselves, and none of those attributes are being modeled for them in the world outside their school," and that "Kids are missing school because ICE keeps cracking down on this city, this community, and specifically this neighborhood, these few blocks here, almost every day."[64]
Agents forced their way into an apartment building, detaining a 17-year-old Columbia Heights student and her mother.[35]
January 15
A couple reported having ICE agents deploy tear gas and stun grenades around their car as they were stuck near a protest, resulting in the hospitalization of their six children inside.[65][66][67]
ICE detained several workers at a Mexican restaurant in Willmar, Minnesota. The officers ate at the restaurant earlier in the day, then returned to arrest the employees after they closed.[68]
St. Paul Public Schools reported ICE stopped two of its contract vans transporting students and staff.[69]
January 16
More than a dozen MSP airport workers were detained by ICE on the job.[70] Their union, UNITE HERE Local 17, said all of the workers had legal authorization to work in the country and had passed rigorous federal background checks in order to work in the airport.[71]
January 17
Jacob Lang, the leader of an anti-immigration protest in downtown Minneapolis, is attacked and injured by counterprotestors.[72]
January 18
Without a search warrant, federal immigration agents made entry into a US citizen's home in Minnesota, handcuffed him, and took him outside in freezing temperatures in his underwear. He was detained for two hours before immigration agents released him.[73] ICE officials claimed they were searching for two men with criminal records who they believed were living in the house. Local media reported that one of the men ICE claimed they were looking for had been in a Minnesota prison since 2024.[74]
January 19
ICE arrested a man working at a St. Louis Park hotel where agents were staying. The man came to the United States as a refugee and had a valid work permit, and was ordered released by a judge on January 25.[75]
January 20
A police chief shared that two off-duty Saint Paul Police officers had been briefly stopped by ICE.[76]
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated that an off-duty Brooklyn Park Police Department officer had been stopped by ICE at gunpoint.[76]
Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old student at Valley View Elementary was approached by masked ICE agents as he returned home from school with his father. According to school officials, they took the boy to the door of the house and used him as 'bait'[77][78] to get the residents to open the door. According to ICE, the father abandoned Liam in the driveway as he tried to flee, and ICE protected the child from the cold.[79] At the same time, ICE claimed that Liam's mother was inside the house. School officials suggested the pregnant[80] mother was likely fearful of opening the door.[81] The ICE agents took Liam and his father away to a detention center in Texas. According to their lawyer, the family came to the US in 2024 from Ecuador and has an active asylum claim.[82][83] This was the fourth student at the Columbia Heights School District to be detained by ICE. Earlier the same day, a 17-year-old student was taken from his car by ICE agents.[35]
January 21
Fong Khang, a US legal permanent resident from Laos, was taken into ICE custody and transferred to Texas in apparent violation of a federal court order. The day before the Minnesota Board of Pardons had set aside Khang's criminal convictions; he had remained free of convictions since 2010. According to his lawyer he was to be returned to Minnesota.[84]
Volunteers delivering food to migrants reported ICE vans were staking out area food banks and following them. Visits to local food pantries were down 50–80 percent.[85]
January 22
Federal agents detained an immigrant man and his 2-year-old daughter, who had active asylum cases, as they were returning from grocery shopping. When a crowd gathered, the agents used flash-bang grenades and chemical agents. Despite a federal court order for the toddler's release, both were transferred to Texas. The 2-year-old was later returned to her mother.[86]
January 23
A general strike is held across the state in response to ICE activity in the state.[2]
Locations of federal law enforcement shootings in Minneapolis, January 2026. Red markers denote fatalities; orange denotes a non-fatal shooting. 1 = Renee Good. 2 = Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. 3 = Alex Pretti.
In January 2026, Minneapolis was the site of three separate shootings involving federal immigration agents. These incidents include the fatal shooting of Renée Good on January 7 at Nicollet Avenue, the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on January 14 in North Minneapolis, and the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on January 24. These events have sparked significant national protests and ongoing disputes regarding the accuracy of federal accounts compared to video evidence.
Good shortly before she was shot, as seen in the DHS agent's video of the incident
On January 7, 2026, Renée Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old American woman, was fatally shot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross.[a] Good was in her car, stopped sideways in the street when Ross walked around it and then walked back and around her vehicle. Other agents approached, and one ordered her to get out of the car while reaching through her open window. Good briefly reversed, then began moving forward and to the right, into the direction of traffic. At this point, Ross was standing at the front-left of the vehicle and fired three shots, killing her, as her vehicle passed him, turning away from him. The killing sparked national protests and multiple investigations.
Federal law enforcement officials and President Donald Trump defended the shooting, saying the agent acted in self-defense, that Good ran him over, and that the agent was recovering in a hospital. Their accounts of the shooting were contested by eyewitnesses, journalists,[92] and Democratic Party lawmakers, some of whom called for criminal proceedings against Ross[93][94]. The president and federal officials were criticized for espousing conclusions before any investigation had occurred. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota governor Tim Walz called on ICE to end their presence in the city.
The killing sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis,[95] and other U.S. cities including Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.[96] Marches in Minneapolis prompted the closing of public schools and the deployment of more police officers. Federal agents used tear gas and pepper spray against protesters, and Governor Walz placed the National Guard on standby.
Leaders of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division declined to open a constitutional investigation, which led more than a dozen federal prosecutors in Minneapolis and Washington to resign in protest. Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison, along with the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt ICE deployments. The incident intensified national debate over immigration enforcement and renewed calls to abolish ICE.
Non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis
On January 14, 2026, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man,[97] was shot in the leg by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis.[98][99] The shooting took place in the north Minneapolis area.[53] According to the Department of Homeland Security, there was a car chase and then a struggle with a federal agent in front of a residence, where two other people attacked the officer.[98][100] The agent shot Sosa-Celis, who went inside the residence and refused to come out. Federal agents went inside the residence.[97][98][100] Sosa-Celis was transported to a hospital.[98][100] Protests developed near the scene, with federal agents firing tear gas and protestors throwing rocks and fireworks.[101] Following the shooting, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said the ICE deployment to Minneapolis was "not sustainable" and was putting Minneapolis in an "impossible situation", and he called for protests to be peaceful.[98][100][99]
In an affidavit filed in federal court January 16, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent gave an account of the incident that varied in several details from the government's first account. According to the FBI affidavit, ICE agents identified the license plate of a car as belonging to a man their records showed had unlawfully entered the US. They identified the driver, who said he had recently purchased the car, as the man they were looking for although the driver was 50 pounds heavier and five inches taller than ICE's suspect; both had short brown hair. Sosa-Celis, the man who was shot and who ICE said was the target of the stop, was not in the car. The driver fled the stop, crashing into a light pole near the house where Sosa-Celis was standing on the porch. The ICE agent, who had not been identified, caught the driver in the yard and an altercation ensued between the two. Sosa-Celis tried to pull the driver away from the ICE agent; as the ICE agent drew his pistol both fled toward the house and Sosa-Celis was shot. The ICE agent reported a "bloody gash" to his hand. The third man supposedly involved in the altercation was not mentioned in the FBI affidavit nor could it be confirmed that he was at the scene.[102]
Video recordings of the incident showed Pretti filming law enforcement agents with his phone and directing traffic. Pretti stood between an agent and a woman whom the agent had pushed to the ground, putting his arm around the woman.[104] He was subsequently pepper-sprayed and wrestled to the ground by several federal agents, with around six surrounding him when he was shot and killed.[105][106][107] Bystander video verified and reviewed by Reuters, the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press (AP) appears to show an agent removing a gun and moving away from Pretti roughly one second before another agent fires at him;[108][109][110][111] AP reported that a voice can be heard saying "gun, gun" right before the first shot.[112]
Pretti was legally licensed to carry a handgun.[113] In reviewing video evidence, Reuters, the BBC, The New York Times, CNN, and The Guardian all concluded that he was holding a cell phone, not a gun, in the moments before being tackled.[109][111][114][115] Agents appear to shoot at him at least ten times within five seconds, beginning while he was pinned to the ground and continuing after he collapsed and his body lay motionless.[111][114][110]
The Trump administration defended the shooting, though many of its claims were contradicted by video evidence and witness testimony.[116] The shooting accelerated ongoing protests against US immigration forces locally and nationally.[117] A civilian recounted how nearly two dozen witnesses to the shooting were taken to and detained at the federally controlled Whipple Building for hours before being released.[118] As with the Renée Good case, state investigators were denied access to the shooting scene by the federal government.[119]
An internal ICE memo from May 2025 asserts that ICE officers have the authority to forcibly enter homes of those subject to removal orders with an administrative warrant, rather than a judicial warrant, allowing for search and seizure without approval from a judge. According to a whistleblower, ICE trainees are taught to follow the memo's guidance instead of training materials which contradict the memo.[120]
On January 11, federal immigration agents arrested a Liberian immigrant after breaking into his home with a battering ram despite only having an administrative warrant issued by an immigration officer and not a judicial warrant, and despite the fact that he had regular meetings with immigration authorities for years prior to his arrest.[121][122] On January 15, Minnesota US District Court judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled that the forced entry into the Liberian immigrant's home constituted a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment and ordered his release.[123] However, ICE detained the Liberian immigrant a second time only a day later when he and his attorney attended a subsequent routine check-in at a federal building.[124][125]
On January 18, a Hmong American citizen was mistakenly arrested by ICE agents after they forced entry into his home without presenting any warrant;[73][126] the target of the search has reportedly been in prison since September 2024.[74][127] In a review of 33 wrongful detention lawsuits filed in the Minnesota US District Court on January 16 and January 17, the Minnesota Star Tribune found that there was no evidence of a warrant in the majority of the lawsuits.[128]
Responses
Political
Local
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison described the federal immigration enforcement deployment as "in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop" asserting that the thousands of armed ICE and DHS agents had caused serious harm and chaos under the guise of immigration enforcement. He criticized the operation in a press conference on January 12 as not helpful: "This surge has made us less safe. Thousands of poorly trained, aggressive, and armed agents of the federal government have rolled into our communities. They have fired chemical irritants at people obeying lawful orders. This is an unlawful commandeering of police resources."[129][130][131][independent source needed]
On January 15, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz insisted that the Trump administration "stop this campaign of retribution".[13] After the killing of Alex Pretti, Walz likened the impact of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota to the experiences of Anne Frank during the Holocaust. Walz stated that like Frank, many children were hiding in their homes and afraid to leave due to the ongoing immigration actions in the state. The US Holocaust Museum later criticized his comparison of Franks experiences and those of immigrant children, stating that Frank was targeted and murdered solely for being Jewish, and any false equivalences are not acceptable especially while antisemitism levels increase.[132][133]
On January 16, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey criticized the broader operation, stating it was "not normal immigration enforcement" and calling on the federal government to halt "unconstitutional conduct that is invading our streets each and every day". Regarding discrimination of specific groups, he added "We have seen consistent unconstitutional practice by ICE discriminating only on the basis of are you Latino, are you Somali".[134][135]
Republican Chris Mandel dropped out of the race for Minnesota governor saying it was because of the Republicans' handling of immigration enforcement in his state. He said on X: "I cannot support the national Republicans' stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so..." [136]
Trump administration
Vice President JD Vance defended the ICE agent involved in the killing of Renée Good and rejected claims of unlawful actions by federal agents, remarking that characterizations of Good as an innocent civilian were "a lie" and that the officer was acting in self-defense.[137]
After Alex Pretti's killing, President Donald Trump spoke with Walz by phone about the operation.[138] Trump subsequently announced that he would be sending White House Border Czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to oversee the operation.[87][139] Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino was reportedly expected to leave the state with some agents.[140][141] Trump blamed Democrats for the killings of Pretti and Renée Good, arguing that they had encouraged obstruction of law enforcement operations.[142]
Walz's office issued a press release after receiving Bondi's letter saying, "This is not common sense, lawful immigration enforcement. That is not what this occupation is about. And it's not what the attorney general's letter is about,"[145] and at a press conference on January 26, Walz said "This has nothing to do with fraud."[146]Minnesota Secretary of StateSteve Simon refused Bondi's request and called the letter "an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of US Citizens in violation of state and federal law."[147] Simon noted that "Attorney General Bondi knows full well that the Governor has no formal role in managing our elections or maintaining our voter registration system. She is also well aware that this specific request is the subject of active litigation with our office."[148]
Congress
Protesters disrupted a service of the Southern Baptist Cities Church, whose pastor is a senior ICE official. Harmeet Dhillon announced that the protest would be investigated as a violation of the FACE act.
On January 8, a day after the killing of Renée Good, representative Robin Kelly (IL-D) announced plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem;[149] the articles were formally introduced on January 15.[150] By January 26, days after the killing of Alex Pretti, the articles had 140 Democratic cosponsors.[151]
On January 22, 2026, the House passed an appropriations package that included funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including ICE.[152] On the same day, Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Kristi Noem saying they are outraged by 53 deaths in ICE/CBP custody and accusing DHS of a "callous disregard for human life".[153] Hours after the January 24 killing of Alex Pretti, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (NY-D) said that Senate Democrats would not pass appropriations that included the DHS funding; support from Senate Democrats is necessary to pass the bill. If appropriations are not passed by January 30, the government will enter a partial government shutdown.[154]Susan Collins (ME-R), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that Republicans are open to reforms for DHS but opposed a separated DHS funding measure; she said the current bill included items such as increased DHS oversight and $20 million for body cameras.[155]
Protests
Thousands of people protested against ICE at Powderhorn Park in MinnesotaProtesters also staged a noise demonstration outside a hotel where ICE were believed to staying
A protest in Minneapolis after the ICE agent shooting of observer Renee GoodICE OUT protest in Minneapolis, January 23, 2026On the day of Good's death, hundreds of protesters gathered at the location of the shooting.[156] Later in the day, the crowd had grown to thousands.[157] On January 8, protesters gathered outside of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, at least three people were arrested and several others were held on the ground by law enforcement, tear gas and pepper spray were also fired at the group.[158][159] On the same day, protesters barricaded the location of the shooting to create a vigil.[160] City workers removed the barricades shortly after, but preserved the memorial that had been established.[161]
On January 9, Minneapolis and Fridley schools were temporarily closed after reports of ICE agents tackling people at Roosevelt High School a day before.[162] In the evening, over 1000 protesters gathered outside the Canopy by Hilton hotel in downtown Minneapolis where ICE officers were believed to have been staying. Police Chief Brian O'Hara described it as a "noise protest" to disrupt those inside until protesters began causing property damage and one police officer was injured by thrown ice. At 10:15pm police declared the protest an unlawful assembly and 30 people were arrested, at which point the crowd dispersed.[163][164][165]
On January 18, protestors disrupted worship at Cities Church in St. Paul to protest against pastor David Easterwood, who activists alleged was the acting field director for ICE in Minnesota.[170][171] Easterwood had earlier defended some of the tactics utilized by ICE in Minnesota, such as the use of chemical irritants and flash-bang grenades against protestors as a crowd control method. The Department of Justice opened up a civil rights investigation into the disruption of service, and on January 22, three of the organizers were arrested, including former president of the Minneapolis NAACP chapter Nekima Levy Armstrong.[172] The Justice Department also attempted to bring charges against journalist Don Lemon (who had been reporting on the church protest);[173] a federal magistrate judge denied the Justice Department's application to bring charges against Lemon.[174] The next day, Minnesota US District Court Judge Laura Provinzino denied motions by the Justice Department to detain two of the protestors, while a federal magistrate judge ordered the release of the third.[175] On January 24, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to order the Minnesota US District Court to issue arrest warrants for five persons in connection with the church protest (reportedly including Lemon).[176]
On January 23, more than 700 small businesses and several cultural institutions closed as part of an economic protest and general strike. Organizers estimated that 50,000 attended the associated protests in subzero temperature.[177][178] In the morning of the same day, hundreds of clergy members protested at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport calling for an end to the ICE surge. Around 100 clergy members were arrested during the protests.[179][180]
On January 24, in the aftermath of the killing of Alex Pretti, hundreds gathered at Whittier Park to protest. A vigil was held at Whittier Park and the intersection of 27th and Nicollet Avenue.[181]
On January 25, about 1,000 people gathered in about 3°F (−16°C) weather[182] in Government Plaza outside the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis for a rally, protesting ICE and CBP and calling for justice after the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Passing cars honked in support of the protesters. After the rally, the crowd marched down 3rd Ave. and Washington Ave., chanting phrases such as "no more Minnesota nice, Minneapolis will strike," "shut it down, shut it down, shut it down," and "strike, strike, strike, strike."[183]
Following the distribution of an anonymous flier online that evening, demonstrators gathered outside a Home2 Suites hotel on University Ave SE that ICE agents were allegedly staying at.[184] Demonstrators created noise and vandalized the exterior of the building. According to local police, federal agents arrived without notifying them as they were attempting to issue dispersal orders and deployed tear gas.[185]
Minneapolis labor unions and community organizations called for a January 23 general strike in response to the ICE surge.[186] The name of the strike is "ICE Out of MN: Day of Truth and Freedom."[187] On January 23, thousands of Minnesotans participated in the strike against ICE actions in their state.[188] In the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, hundreds of businesses closed to protest Operation Metro Surge.[189] Businesses across the state also closed in solidarity.[188] State museums were also closed.[190]
Over a thousand labor unions endorsed the general strike, including the Minnesota AFL-CIO.[190] The strike was also endorsed by the Minneapolis city council.[190] It may be one of the state's largest strikes.[191]
Civil society
By January 15, Minneapolis church Dios Habla Hoy had delivered over 12,000 boxes of food in six weeks to families in hiding during the operation.[193]
Corporations
On January 25, an open letter was posted to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce website signed by over 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies calling for an "immediate deescalation of tensions". Signers included the CEOs of 3M, Cargill, Mayo Clinic, Target, Best Buy, UnitedHealth Group, and General Mills.[194]
International
In response to ICE actions in Minneapolis, officials in Italy expressed concern over the reported planned involvement of ICE in providing security for US officials during the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.[195]
On 12 January, the state governments of Minnesota and Illinois and the city governments of Minneapolis and Saint Paul filed federal lawsuits against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and top federal officials, including the heads of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).[196][197] They argued that the large-scale deployment of ICE agents is unconstitutional, unlawful, and has disrupted civic life and violated civil liberties.[198] The State of Minnesota invokes the Tenth Amendment, arguing that the unilateral deployment of federal agents to perform general policing duties constitutes an unconstitutional commandeering of state resources and a violation of the state's sovereign police powers.[199] The City of Minneapolis challenges the operation under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), contending that the sudden designation of schools and hospitals as enforcement zones was an "arbitrary and capricious" policy change made without the required public notice or comment period.[200][198] On January 19, the Justice Department filed a request to reject lawsuit's motion for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.[201] Oral arguments began being held in the case on January 26.[202]
ACLU
On December 17, 2025 individual plaintiffs and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit (Tincher et al. v. Noem et al.)[203] alleging constitutional violations by federal agents participating in Operation Metro Surge. The complaint referenced events on December 9, 2025 also documented by MPR-News[204] and argued that agents engaged in retaliatory arrests against observers and conducted traffic stops without reasonable suspicion, violating First and Fourth Amendment rights.[205]
On January 15, 2026, the ACLU has filed a second class-action lawsuit alleging widespread racial profiling by federal immigration agents under the surge.[206] In the complaint the ACLU argues that arrests based solely on ethnic appearance or accent violate the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause and the Equal ProtectionClause as well as the prohibition against arbitrary detention without probable cause.
On January 16, Minnesota US District Court judge Katherine M. Menendez issued a preliminary injunction in the first lawsuit filed by the Minnesota ACLU in December placing specific restrictions on federal agents participating in "Operation Metro Surge" in Minnesota. The ruling ordered agents not to retaliate against individuals "engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity". Specifically, the court prohibited the use of pepper spray or other "crowd dispersal tools" as retaliation for protected speech and barred agents from detaining motorists who were not "forcibly obstructing or interfering with" officers.[207][208] On January 21, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an administrative stay of the Minnesota US District Court ruling to allow for the administration to file an appeal.[209][210] On January 26, it issued a formal stay to block the injunction during the appeals process, finding the injunction to be "vague and overly broad" and that parts of it were essentially orders to "obey the law".[211]
Wrongful detentions
In a review of federal court filings in Minnesota for wrongful detention lawsuits, the Minnesota Star Tribune found 288 cases filed from January 1 through January 21 and 344 filed from December 1 through January 21, which compared with 128 filed in 2025 in total and 375 filed between 2016 and 2024.[128]Politico subsequently reported that the judges of the Minneapolis US District Court have consistently ruled that the Trump administration had violated the law (sometimes egregiously), ruling in favor of the administration in only a handful of cases.[212]
On January 27, Minnesota US District Court Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz ordered acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to appear in court over the agency failing to follow dozens of court orders in the wrongful detention lawsuits, with Schiltz threatening to hold Lyons in contempt of court for failure to do so.[213][214] While Schiltz acknowledged in the ruling that ordering the head of an agency to appear in federal court was extraordinary, Schiltz also wrote that "the extent of ICE's violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed."[215] On the same day, Western Texas U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Frederick Biery Jr. issued an order blocking the deportation of a 5-year old Ecuadorian boy and his father, who were detained in Minneapolis a week earlier and removed to a family detention center near San Antonio, while a wrongful detention lawsuit to allow them to stay in the country proceeds.[216][217]
On January 7, Minnesota GovernorTim Walz issued a warning order to the Minnesota National Guard following the killing of Renée Good.[218][219] The next day, Walz ordered the Minnesota National Guard to be "staged and ready"; Walz's office issued a press statement saying: "[The National Guard] remain[s] ready in the event they are needed to help keep the peace, ensure public safety, and allow for peaceful demonstrations".[220][221] On January 17, the Minnesota National Guard announced that it had been mobilized but not deployed by Walz to support the Minnesota State Patrol with activated members planning to wear yellow reflective vests to "help distinguish them from other agencies in similar uniforms",[222][223] while the Minnesota Department of Public Safety stated that the Minnesota National Guard "are not deployed to city streets at this time, but are ready to help support public safety".[224] Following the killing of Alex Pretti on January 24, Walz deployed the Minnesota National Guard to assist local law enforcement at the request of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and the Minneapolis city government.[225][226]
On January 18, the United States Department of Defense reportedly ordered 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, including two battalions from the 11th Airborne Division of the United States Army based in Alaska.[224][236] In an emailed press statement, department spokesperson Sean Parnell stated, "The Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon",[223] but an unnamed Trump administration source has said that the standby order does not guarantee a deployment will occur or is imminent.[224] An unnamed Defense Department source has confirmed that the standby order was issued in response to Trump's threats to invoke the Insurrection Act.[237] In response to the reports of the standby order, Frey said in an interview: "It's ridiculous, but we will not be intimidated by the actions of this federal government... It is not fair, it's not just, and it's completely unconstitutional."[238] On January 20, the Defense Department reportedly issued a second standby order to a brigade of the Military Police Corps stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina to prepare for potential deployment to Minneapolis.[239][240][241]
Results
DHS reported by December 13, 2025 the operation had resulted in the arrest of 400 undocumented immigrants, claiming this included pedophiles, rapists, kidnappers, and drug traffickers.[242] In January 2026, ICE reported that 103 out of 2,000 arrestees, or about 5 percent, had records of violent crimes.[243]
A review of a list of names of individuals ICE said it had arrested in Minneapolis, however, showed that at least several had not in fact been arrested in the operation but had been transferred from state custody to DHS before December 1, 2025, including one individual who had been transferred in 2003.[244] On January 19, 2026, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed in a post on Twitter that ICE had "arrested over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens" in Minneapolis, including 3,000 in the past six weeks.[245]
↑At the time of the shooting, Ross worked as an officer under the Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) of ICE, which is the directorate in charge of detentions and deportations. ICE agent is commonly used by English-language speakers and media to refer to ERO officers. Ross was identified by cross-referencing statements made by federal officials concerning a dragging incident the shooter was involved in with court documents.[89] His name had not been released by federal authorities.[90][91]
12Vinick, Gaby; Looft, Chis; Margolin, Josh; Charalambous, Peter; Alcini, Camilla (January 25, 2026). "A minute-by-minute timeline of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent". ABC News. Retrieved January 25, 2026. More than a minute after Pretti was shot, the officer who appeared to emerge with Pretti's weapon later returned to the scene and told other officers, 'I got the gun. I got the gun.'
12Lum, Devon; Willis, Haley (January 24, 2026). "Videos Show Moments in Which Agents Killed a Man in Minneapolis". The New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2026. As the gun emerges from the melee, another agent aims his own firearm at Mr. Pretti's back and appears to fire one shot at close range. He then appears to continue firing at Mr. Pretti, who collapses. A third agent unholsters a weapon. Both agents appear to fire additional shots into Mr. Pretti as he lies motionless. In total, at least 10 shots appear to have been fired within five seconds.
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